Hello! I am very excited to be visiting your class and getting to share my thoughts with such an esteemed group of people here at the university. Let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Carol Gilligan and I was born in 1936 in New York City. I received my Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Swarthmore College, then continued on for a Masters in clinical psychology from Radcliffe College and finally a PhD in social psychology from Harvard University. (If that list got any longer I'd bore myself!)
I have always been highly invested in women's psychology and the development of girls. I am known as not only a psychologist but an ethicist and feminist. In 1982, I published a work called In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. In In a Different Voice, I talked about my theory of moral development. I believe that women tend to speak and think in a different way than men when they confront ethical dilemmas. Whereas men are concerned with justice, which can make them impersonal, I think that women are more caring, more connected to other people. In a Different Voice attracted a lot of controversy because I disagreed with my colleague Lawrence Kohlberg. Lawrence's opinions are that girls reach a lower level of moral development than boys (based on his research), but I think his studies are skewed and his researching is flawed. Nothing against Lawrence of course, the man is very intelligent and can make a mean lasagna!
I currently teach at New York University and am a visiting professor at Cambridge University. I love teaching and am feel so lucky to be able to talk with such great teachers! I look forward to talking about the importance of understanding women and viewing their strengths. I believe quite firmly in ethics and equality. I am something of a debater but I know lots of you are too!
I took the liberty of reading over Chapter Two of Educational Psychology and I was highly interested in the content. As you know, my theory was concerned with the MORAL development of girls in relation to boys. However, development is a multi-faceted concept of changes within the human body, and one element of development (in my case, moral) can never stand alone. Our textbook defines four parts of human development--physical, personal, social, and cognitive. I believe that my theory is concerned mostly with social development, which "refers to changes in the way an individual relates to others" (page 30). My study found that girls develop in a different way than boys, but all can reach the stages of development that Kohlberg proposed.
Not concerning gender at all, Educational Psychology discusses adolescent development and how pertinent this stage in life can be: "adolescents may 'seem' like adults, at least in low-stress situations, but their brains are not fully developed. They often have trouble avoiding risks and controlling impulses" (page 36). It is proven that teenagers are not able to function the same as adults in high stress situations. In my moral theory of development, I discuss how girls are able to make incredibly stressful decisions, like whether or not to get an abortion, differently based on what level of moral development they are currently in. Here is a video that discusses this example and defines those levels of development more clearly:
The rest of this chapter highlights Piaget's four stages of cognitive development. While I agree with Piaget's idea of stages, the book brings up a critical point that my research would agree it is important to consider "one problem with the stage model is the lack of consistency in children's thinking" (page 53). I would agree that not all children think the same (i.e., girls and boys).
This chart defines Kohlberg's stages of development versus my stages of ethic care. You can see how our stages follow the same general guidelines for developing cognitively from egotistical/selfish to being conscious of other people and social order. These stages differ from Piaget's four of cognitive development, but all three of us provide explanations from how a child goes from seeing the world around to him, to understanding it, to interacting in it.
I have always been highly invested in women's psychology and the development of girls. I am known as not only a psychologist but an ethicist and feminist. In 1982, I published a work called In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. In In a Different Voice, I talked about my theory of moral development. I believe that women tend to speak and think in a different way than men when they confront ethical dilemmas. Whereas men are concerned with justice, which can make them impersonal, I think that women are more caring, more connected to other people. In a Different Voice attracted a lot of controversy because I disagreed with my colleague Lawrence Kohlberg. Lawrence's opinions are that girls reach a lower level of moral development than boys (based on his research), but I think his studies are skewed and his researching is flawed. Nothing against Lawrence of course, the man is very intelligent and can make a mean lasagna!
I currently teach at New York University and am a visiting professor at Cambridge University. I love teaching and am feel so lucky to be able to talk with such great teachers! I look forward to talking about the importance of understanding women and viewing their strengths. I believe quite firmly in ethics and equality. I am something of a debater but I know lots of you are too!
Image retrieved on 13 Jan 2014
http://bwaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Carol_Gilligan_Color_Photo-e1343670682675.jpg
Here are photographs of my most famous works, Kyra and In a Different Voice:
A link to my New York University faculty profile:
https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/profile.cfm?personID=19946
A link to a video of me discussing my opinions on the psychology of boys:
http://www.makers.com/carol-Gilligan
Chapter Two: Cognitive Development
I took the liberty of reading over Chapter Two of Educational Psychology and I was highly interested in the content. As you know, my theory was concerned with the MORAL development of girls in relation to boys. However, development is a multi-faceted concept of changes within the human body, and one element of development (in my case, moral) can never stand alone. Our textbook defines four parts of human development--physical, personal, social, and cognitive. I believe that my theory is concerned mostly with social development, which "refers to changes in the way an individual relates to others" (page 30). My study found that girls develop in a different way than boys, but all can reach the stages of development that Kohlberg proposed.Not concerning gender at all, Educational Psychology discusses adolescent development and how pertinent this stage in life can be: "adolescents may 'seem' like adults, at least in low-stress situations, but their brains are not fully developed. They often have trouble avoiding risks and controlling impulses" (page 36). It is proven that teenagers are not able to function the same as adults in high stress situations. In my moral theory of development, I discuss how girls are able to make incredibly stressful decisions, like whether or not to get an abortion, differently based on what level of moral development they are currently in. Here is a video that discusses this example and defines those levels of development more clearly:
The rest of this chapter highlights Piaget's four stages of cognitive development. While I agree with Piaget's idea of stages, the book brings up a critical point that my research would agree it is important to consider "one problem with the stage model is the lack of consistency in children's thinking" (page 53). I would agree that not all children think the same (i.e., girls and boys).
This chart defines Kohlberg's stages of development versus my stages of ethic care. You can see how our stages follow the same general guidelines for developing cognitively from egotistical/selfish to being conscious of other people and social order. These stages differ from Piaget's four of cognitive development, but all three of us provide explanations from how a child goes from seeing the world around to him, to understanding it, to interacting in it.
For more information on mine and other's theories of moral development, I highly suggest you read this article. Here is a link to the information and a peer-review:
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=1a60ae77-ae57-47c6-9dda-7b45d14f0a89%40sessionmgr4005&vid=1&hid=4114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=pvh&AN=2004-17633-066